Bill bank



July 11, 1933. M. GoEPEI.

BILL BANK Original Filed Jan.

` INVENTOR. Marga/6E @QQ/1199i v AlrToRA/Eyr.;`

ri.. :il:

Patented July 11, 1,933

Unirse STATES PAT MARGARET, Gonrni., orfnnw Youn, n. Y.'

originali application sied January 25, 192s, serial N0..24e,4se, new raient No. 1,760,9o1, aaiea. ;rune 3,1930.

Divided and'this application filed October 17, 1929.

The present invention .relates to improvements "in bilLbanks and is a division of my Co-pending similarly entitled application, Serial No. 249,486, tiled January 25th, 15028,

which has matured into patent No. 1,760,901

dated ',liine', 1980. 1

An object of the invention is to provide a" savings bank for holding bills, in which the bank ,may be kept .locked until suoli time as L the bills accumulate in a predetermined amount; whereupon the bank may automatically open, orthe internal mechanism will ar.- rive .at suoli condition that the bank may be manually opened. 1

More particularly, the invention has for its object to provide means whereby the rather iiexible and unstid paper bills or bank notes may be letliciently manipulated by mechanical means to enable thereby a billbank to be provided which will vinduce thrift.v For this purpose, a container is provided having an openning for the insertion of thebills or notes, which bills, when inserted, rest temporarily upon yieldable rests,until the cover is closed, which acts to permit' a follower to press down the bills past the rests, and thereby bring the bills into a positioii'wliere theyy cannot be -extractedfrom the container, the cover closing at the saine time the entrance opening of the container. -Toenable the operation of the collection of bills in the container to be orderly, means areprovided for temporarily holding the bills in position mostY desirable to .carry out-the just-described oper` Also a counteringer may be oper-- The yieldable ation.

ated by the pressed down bill. steps support the edge of the bill, as also to some extent the finger ofthe counter.` MeansY hold the other edge so that the first-nained edge is properly supported on the steps` and linger. The follower presses down, and, by the bill being between the followerand the steps and linger, a relative stiffness and ri- 5 gidity is given to the bill edge.

vide a comparatively small, compact fand nomination, may be treasured up and carried,

thus makino Other `objects of the invention are toy prowhen full, to a banking house or institution Serial No. 400,292.

which if desired issue the small bank 7 boxes; there to 'be Opened and the contents ENT OFFRE placed tothe account of the holder of the bankbox; toprovide an internal construction of bank box in which the bills will be neatly i and tightly-heldA in a compact stack and" obliged, in the act of stacking to operate register for the purpose of totaling and 4 showing the number of bills 4placed in the bank.

A further object of the invention is to pro# Y .vide an improved registery or counter meclianisni whereby the act of introducing a bill to the bank will operate the counter or register D known,and preserving a record of, the amount of bills on deposit inthe savings bank. Y v With'the foregoing and other objects in view, Vthe invention will be more fully 'dcscribed hereinafter, and will be more particu-v larly pointed out in the claims appended thereto. f

In the drawing, wherein like symbols refer toflike orcorresponding parts throughout the v several views. l

F igurel is a perspective view of anV improved bill bank constructed in accordance' with the present invention.

Figure 2is a transverse vertical taken on the line 2&2 in Figure l.

Figure 3 is a longitudinal section taken on thelne 3-3'in Figure 2.

Figure t is a top plan view with parts A brokenaway. i

y Figure 5 is a vertical section taken on the line 545 in Figure 2.

Figure 6 shows in l section perspective a bill in folded condition ready'to be placed in theY bank, and,

F igure? is a fragmentarysection showing aslight inodilication. l l

Referring more particularlytov the drawing, a box or container is provided in which 7 designates the front wall, 8 the side walls' and?) the rear wall.

"The bottom l0 is hinged, as indicated at Y ll in Figure 2, to the ,lower edge of the` rear wall 9. A supplemental or false: bottom 12`is hinged, as indicated atlf to the main bottomV l0 near its free edge.y The false bottom l2 is designed to be held yieldably by .aleaf or other form of spring 14 in an inclined or diagonal position within the container body.

In Figure 2v is indicated a stack of bills 15 as received directly upon the inclined false bottom 12. The eXtreme free edge of the main bottom 1 is provided with the upwardly and inwardly turned hook 16 to cooperate with the latch ring 17, shown more particularly in Figure 5. This latch ring is provided'with a gap 18 to perinitof the Y escape of the latch 16; and the ring yis suitably supported as by an arm 19 formed in one piece therewith and bent radially ofthe ring and to and about the inwardly projected end of the register wshaft '20, which has a bearing in the front wall 7 of the box.

The latch ring'17 is Athus adaptedY to turn with the register 4wheel 21, which issecured to the. shaft 20 forwardly of the lfront wall The wheel 21 may be provided with a series of numbers, say from 1 to 51 exposed through an opening 22 made in the supplemental front wall 23 which houses and encloses the registering mechanism. A step by step movement is imparted to the register wheel 21 by the action of the pawl or dog V24 engaging the inclined ratchet teeth 25 on the periphery of the registry wheel 21. The pawl extends downwardly froman actuating lever 2G pivoted, as indicated at 27 to either or both walls7 and 23 and situated between such walls. The .lever is normally held elevated bythe action of a yieldable spring 28- which may be secured also to .either front' wall and bears beneath the lower' edge of;

thelever 26. A slot 29 iii-the front wall 7 permits of the passage, and free vertical play ofthe lug or inturned end 30 of the lever- 2G. this end preferably having Va beveled nose 31for the easy passage of they bills 15 there- Y y over.

On the interior of the front` container wall 7 are provided onel or more keepers or shelves 32.of muslin, paperthin,` resilient metal or other flexible material forming temporaryi rests for the bills and having securing portions allixed to the front wall and operativeA portions extending downwardly and inward-l ly for the purpose of producing stops to arrest the bills in their upward movement-after they have once passed below the stops.

In its upper portion the front wall is provided with the horizontally elongated slot 33 of a length to receive the folded bill. Y It will be noted that the supplemental front wall 23 terminates below the slot 33, so as not to interfere with the introduction of the bill. I i The slot 33 is normally secreted by the front flange 34 of the flanged cover 35.' This cover is hinged or pivoted to the container or to the rear wall 9 thereof as for instance shown at 36. The top'of the container is closed by a i permanent top-37. Within the container isa follower 38 possessing suliicient weight to normally swing down to the position shown in Figure 2 and to compress the stack of bills 15. The follower may be of any appropriate construction being pivoted, as indicated at 39 to the side wallsor other portions of the box and having a slotted forward edge 40, shown in Figure 4, to slide freely past the inwardly projecting end 30`of the register operating' lever 26. h In the use of the device, the normal condi- "tion of the bank is shown in Figure 1, the

appearance simulatingthat of an ordinary K box. To insert a bill, the bill may be folded as shown in Figure 6. The bill is first folded yupon a central transverse line 41 and then again folded upon the quarter transverse line 42, thereby producing a compact condition which avoids the necessity for greatV size in the construction of the bill bank.

The folded bill is flattened, and the hinged cover 35 raised to the dotted line position, shown in Figure 2. The raising of thisy cover will simultaneously expose the front slot 33 and raise the follower 38 as such'follower is coupled by the flexible string or other connection 43 to the lid. The string if desired can pass freely through an opening 44 made in the rear wall 9. The raised position of the follower is "indicated in dotted lines in Figure 2. When the lbill is introduced throughr the slot 33, it will be inserted beneath the follower. Y y

Consequently when'the cover 35 is subsequently returned to the closed position, the follower will fall by gravity'and force the bill downwardly and onto the false bottom- 12A and stack'. 15. In so doing the bill will be forced past the shelves 32 which will yield fortlie purpose but promptly spring outward to interfere withV any bulging or swelling of the bills upwardly beyond this point which might permit their escape through the slot. Moreover, the Vbill in passing down will strike the end 30 of the lever and depress this end slightly as permitted by the bottom of the slot 29. There resultsthrough the dog and ratchet mechanism 25 an angular movement.

one sub-divisions, the fifty-first and last subdivision being opposite the gap or slot 18 in the latch ring 17, sothat as soon as the fiftyregister wheel 21 will be providedwith iiftyrst sub-division is presented at the opening 22, the gap 18 in the ring 17 will have arrived opposite the hook 16 on the main bottom 10. rIhe hook will thus be released from the latch ring and the bottom 10 may be either man-4 ually shifted down to the dotted line position shown in Figure 2, or it will be immediately and automatically projected toV this positon to disgorge the stack of bills 15 which by their accumulated pressure will be responsible for the automa-tic action referred to. f

As the bills accumulate, the false bottom 12 will be forced downwardly inopposition to the action of the spring 14 until the false bottom is very close throughout to the mainv bottom 10. The false bottom will, however, in the early stages and almost throughout the entire stacking operation, hold the bills in ar inclined position, so that the forward edges thereof are held lowermost and the bills are deposited with these forward lower edges downwardly against the stops 32 and the projecting end of the register lever to insure the registering operation. The follower 38 is pivoted favorably to secure this same result and to co-operate with the inclination given the false bottom. Y

The opening 22 may be also used for the purpose of inserting an instrument to pry loose a hook or fastening for the main bottom 10 when the bank is filled to capacity.

In Figure 7 is shown a preferred form of bill follower 38, which is hinged at 39a. Keyed to the pivot of this hinge device but at the exterior of the boX is a rearwardly eX- tending member 39", which is secured to the depending part of the cover 35, either at its rear or at the two lateral sides. Thereby a positive connection between Vthe operable cover 35 and the bill follower 38 is obtained. As the cover is opened, the follower 38 is raised to the dotted position, as shown in Figure 2, and as the cover descends. or closes, the follower 38 moves downto full line position shown in Figures 2 and 7. The false bottom is inclined so the entering end of the bills will rest on the false bottom at its most upper end, and the other or last entering edge of the bill vwill rest on the yieldable and resil-v ient steps 32. This, of course, takes place when the cover is open and the follower is out of the way, as when it is in the position of the Y dotted lines shown in Figure 2. l

Then the cover is closed, and the follower 38 presses the rather stiffened edge of the folded bill downwardly, the yieldable steps 32 permitting this, and, at the same time, the edge of the bill presses upon and past the finger 30. The forked shaped end of the follower gives stiii'nessto the edge of the bill,

' of the bank.

bank itself can be suitably decorated at its exterior and can be shaped like a treasure chest or in the shape yof a book. The co-operation of the follower and finger rest gives the edge of the bill a stiffness and rigidity so p it can operate a counter.

It is obvious that various changes andlmodifications may be made inthe details of construction and design of the above specifically described embodiment of this invention without vdepartingfromthe spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only Iiy the scope of the following claims. What is claimed is: Y 1. In a bank of the type having a container with a follower therein and a closure with a hook thereon; a ring `mounted on the container for engagementwith the hook of the closure and provided with a gap therein for releasing'the hook when the ring is turned to register thefgap with .the hook, a ratchet` I wheel connected to the ring for turning the same, and a lever pivoted to the container normally urged inone direction and having a kpawl forV engagement with said ratchet wheel, said lever havingV an inturnedend lying in the by the money moved by the follower to swing the lever and turn the ratchet wheel and ring to release vsaid hook. p

2. In a bank of the type having a closed container for money and a hinged bottom on the container with a hook on'the bottom, a locking ring mounted for rotation on thecontainer and engaging the hook at times, and means operable on the ring and lying in the path of the money deposited in the bank and adapted to be actuated by the money to turn said ring and release said'hook.

. 3, In a bank of the typehaving a closed container for bills with a follower' in said container for stacking'the bills and a hinged closure for the container having a latch member; a cooperating latch element movably mounted on the container for holding the closure closed,and means operable by the bills engaged by the follower for actuating said latch element for releasing the closure.

' In testimony whereof I 'affix my signature.

MARGARET GOEPEL.

path of said follower for engagement 

